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Hull crime news

In comparison, Twitter was hardly mentioned at all in the same period, with with just 140 listed entries for the social media giant.

Mentions of the term 'Twitter' failed to reach treble figures in any annual crime reports from the last five years, with the highest total of 39 coming in both 2014 and 2016.

The issue primarily appears to relate to Facebook. Crimes that have been reported include when, last year, children as young as seven were being groomed on the social networking site. Out of a total of 50 offences of sexual communication recorded between April 2017 and January 2018, 18 took place via Facebook.

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Official Facebook policy states: "In an effort to prevent and disrupt real-world harm, we prohibit people from facilitating or coordinating future criminal activity that is intended or likely to cause harm to people, businesses or animals.

"People can draw attention to harmful activity that they may witness or experience as long as they do not advocate for or coordinate harm."

Humberside Police advice

In response, a Humberside Police spokesman said: "As more of our lives are conducted online and in a digital way, it is unsurprising that crime reports involving Facebook and other social media sites have gone up.

"We have specialist officers in our Cyber Crime unit who are highly trained and investigate such crimes. We encourage anyone who may have any concerns to report it to us straight away.

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"The use of technology and social media is not inherently dangerous and can be used in positive and constructive ways.

"With the increase in the number of reports mentioning social media it offers a timely reminder of the importance of adjusting privacy and security settings and, for example, not to use the same password for multiple accounts.

"By following simple guides such as ‘Get Safe Online’ and guidance given by the social media platform themselves, the user will be able to reduce the risk of becoming a victim."

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